Distinguished Professor Ben Mathews

Distinguished Professor, Faculty of Business and Law

PhD (Queensland University of Technology), BA (Hons) (Queensland University of Technology), LLB (James Cook Uni. of North Qld)

I am a Distinguished Professor in the School of Law at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia, and Adjunct Professor at Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health.  I was a Professorial Fellow to the Royal Commission Into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.  For 25 years I have conducted multidisciplinary research at the interface of child abuse, violence against children, gendered violence, law, and public health.

My publications include 6 books and edited collections, 30 government reports, 150 refereed scholarly articles and book chapters, 50 law reform submissions on issues concerning children and the law, over 100 national and international scientific conference presentations, and over 200 presentations to key government policy leaders and non-government stakeholders.

I have successfully completed 14 major projects, and have obtained over $7m in external competitive funding from agencies including the Australian Research Council (Discovery and Linkage Projects), the National Health and Medical Research Council, the Australian Government, State Governments, the National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse, and the World Health Organization.

Expertise

I am internationally recognised for my research into child maltreatment and child protection. With collaborators in Australia and overseas, I conduct innovative, transformative research to assist in preventing, detecting, and responding to child abuse and neglect.  I am especially recognised for research into how legal and social systems can best prevent, identify, and respond to child sexual abuse, both within and beyond institutional settings.

My work has demonstrated:

1. which legal mechanisms best identify cases of child sexual abuse (duties to report suspected cases, and reporter education);
2. how the concept of “child sexual abuse” should be defined and measured;
3. why statutes of limitation should not apply to civil lawsuits for injuries caused by sexual abuse, including by institutional defendants;
4. the national prevalence and associated health outcomes of all forms of child abuse and neglect;
5. the national prevalence of intimate partner violence;
6. how organisations can best prevent and respond to child sexual abuse;
7. specific areas of priority for prevention of gendered violence in contemporary society.

Australian Child Maltreatment Study

I am Lead Investigator of the Australian Child Maltreatment Study (ACMS).  This is the first national study of the prevalence of all forms of child abuse and neglect in Australia, their associations with mental disorders and health risk behaviours, and their associated burden of disease.  This landmark 5 year study (2019-23) was funded by the NHMRC, with further funding from the Australian Government.

All published works from the ACMS are accessible at the dedicated project website: https://www.acms.au/. Major findings on prevalence and outcomes of child maltreatment were published in April 2023 in a special edition of the Medical Journal of Australia. To date, these and other significant findings have been shared in 200 presentations to government agencies and policy leaders, non-government stakeholders and sector leaders, practitioners, and public audiences.

The ACMS team continues to publish major new scientific findings that have advanced knowledge and helped to identify where prevention, policy reform and investment are most needed. We engage with governments and sector stakeholders to facilitate uptake and adoption of our findings. This has assisted to improve policy, procedures, practitioner training, and outcomes for Australian children and families, and major social systems that deal with them (government departments of families and communities and child protection, health, and education).

Online sexual violence against children

An additional new area of research involves the measurement of online sexual violence against children, and assessment of the health outcomes associated with these experiences. Recent publications have demonstrated the high prevalence of these experiences. This work is conducted in partnership with the National Centre for Action Against Child Sexual Abuse, academic colleagues, and partners from the eSafety Commission. This work has informed ongoing partnerships with key service providers including Teach Us Consent, contributing to major sexual violence prevention initiatives.

Influence and impact

My research is heavily cited (>6000 citations; Google Scholar h index 44). I have provided technical advice to governments in Australia (Australian Government, and Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory), and overseas (Ireland, UK, New Zealand), and to members of the UK House of Lords.

Findings and advocacy have influenced major reform of legislation, policy and practice in multiple jurisdictions, especially concerning the mandatory reporting of child abuse and neglect, and civil statutes of limitation for child abuse claims. The ACMS findings and high-level engagement with governments have influenced enhanced systems approaches to child maltreatment prevention and response, especially in relation to emotional abuse.

Other indicators of influence and impact include:

• Selection as QUT's law discipline impact case study for the 2018 Australian Government Excellence in Research for Australia assessment exercise (awarded the maximum rating of high in both impact and engagement)
• 2019 QUT Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Research
• 2019 delivery in London of the two keynote seminars to the England and Wales Inquiry Into Child Sexual Abuse, influencing reforms now in progress
• named Leading Researcher in the Discipline of Social Sciences, Field of Social Work, in The Australian’s Top 250 Researchers in 2025
• Nominee for the Australian of the Year Award 2024, 2026
• Citations in key law reform inquiry reports
• Citations in courts, including the High Court of Australia, and the Victorian Court of Appeal
• Initiation of a new cross-national research partnership with Canada to advance national and international child maltreatment prevention research (the Australia and Canada Child Maltreatment Research Partnership)
• I am an Invited Member of numerous national and international advisory groups on violence prevention. These involve contributing to initiatives driven by major stakeholders and policy leaders including the Australian Human Rights Commission, Teach Us Consent, UNICEF (Technical Consultation on the Measurement of Sexual Violence in Childhood), the Safe Futures Hub (Solutions to End Childhood Sexual Violence), the Oak Foundation (Prevent Child Abuse Group), and the US Centers for Disease Control.

Current major research areas involve five key topics concerning children, law, healthy development, violence prevention, and gender equity:

1. Definition and measurement of the national prevalence and health outcomes of child abuse and neglect, and public health law analysis for improved prevention;
2. Child abuse and neglect and legal and regulatory approaches for prevention, detection and response (mandatory reporting laws, systemic responses to child maltreatment, civil liability and legal remedies for child abuse, institutional child abuse, child and youth serving institutions and optimal prevention methods; sexual abuse, redress schemes, statutes of limitation, law reform, policy reform, regulatory reform; internet sexual violence);
3. Child sexual abuse prevention in general, with a particular focus on schools and other child and youth-serving organisations, and regulatory compliance after the Royal Commission;
4. Online sexual violence against children and youth, and prevention;
5. Children's rights generally.

Research funding includes over $7 million in external funding. Major recent projects include:

1. A new frontier in mental health prevention: Targeting child emotional abuse. Morgan, Mathews, Neelakantan, Xu, Higgins, Yap, Reavley, Jorm, Faichney (Ais McCormack, Crosby, Hall, Mackinnon). Medical Research Future Fund (Million Minds Mental Health Research Mission). ($753,572).
2. The first national study of child abuse and neglect in Australia: prevalence, health outcomes, and burden of disease. Mathews, Pacella, Dunne, Scott, Finkelhor, Meinck, Higgins, Erskine, Thomas. NHMRC Project Grant. ($2.3m).
3. Prevalence and outcomes of institutional child sexual and physical abuse. Australian Government, Department of Social Services. 2020-23. Mathews, Haslam, Dunne, NHMRC team. ($308,000).
4. Child maltreatment and its association with involvement in the criminal justice system, and adult intimate partner violence. Australian Institute of Criminology. 2020-23. ($50,000).
5. Online child sexual victimisation and associated mental health disorders and health risk behaviours. Mathews, Walsh, Nicholas, et al .National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse. 2023-25.  $180,000.
6. Disrupting Child Sexual Exploitation: The DICE Project. ARC Linkage Grant 2021-23 ($637,834: Humphreys, Mathews, Ross, Heward-Belle, Gold, Miller, Shoobridge, Pearce).
7. Scoping Study for ACMS Second Wave. Australian Government. QUT Investigators: Mathews, Walsh, Duthie, Haslam, Emzin. Other investigators: Higgins, Scott, Finkelhor, Lawrence, Pacella, Meinck, Erskine, Thomas, Malacova. 2023.

Additional information